This invention relates to the preparation of thin superconducting oxide films.
Superconductors are materials having substantially zero resistance to the flow of electrons below a certain critical temperature. It is known that certain metal oxides exhibit high temperature superconductivity, that is, critical temperatures greater than 30K. Included are La.sub.2-x M.sub.x CuO.sub.4-y, where M is an alkaline earth cation (e.g., Ba, Sr, Ca) and in which the critical temperature can be greater than 35 K, and NBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x, where N can be Y, La, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, etc. and in which the critical temperature can be greater than 90K. It is desirable to provide such oxides in a thin film or coating which is fully dense, of controlled microstructure, and very homogeneous in composition, for demanding electronic device purposes such as striplines, Josephson junction devices, superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID) and as superconducting coatings on a support material such as a wire, sheet or coil in order to make a superconducting component.